Will 'Baptiste' Return For Season 2? It Looks Like Some Of The Most Important Players Are Game

When BBC One revealed that it'd be commissioning a spin-off of The Missing, the seriously intense drama anthology series about missing children which debuted in 2014, I braced myself for some more of TV's most high octane intensity. So far, that's pretty much been exactly what I've gotten from Baptiste, the Nordic noir companion to The Missing. The series has offered plenty of twists and turns, and left more questions than an episode of University Challenge. So, will Baptiste return for season two? I really hope so, because it looks as though its first season is going to leave a helluva lot of questions that need answering.

The Missing's Julien Baptiste, as played by Tchéky Karyo, reprised his role when he returned to the screen in early 2019 as one of TV's steeliest detectives. In Baptiste, he finds himself being sworn into investigate the disappearance of a sex worker in Amsterdam, and the season is set to conclude with what's sure to be an electric finale on Sunday, March 24 at 9 p.m. on BBC1. While the six-part drama seems to have left a lot of things open so far, according to a recent interview with Baptiste and The Missing's writers, it sounds as though they're using this spin-off series as a way to say goodbye to the beloved character.

BBC/Two Brothers Pictures

Writers Harry and Jack Williams, aka The Two Brothers, told the Radio Times on Feb. 7 that if they do air a third season of The Missing that it won't include Detective Baptiste. "The Missing was about the missing period of time between these events and losing someone and finding them. I think we sort of hemmed ourselves in time-wise," they reasoned.

Because of the constraints involved, the brother duo have said that if they were to continue with the "The Missing again it would be a brand new story and world.” But does that mean viewers will never get to see Baptiste's character on TV again, in any kind of capacity?

BBC/Two Brothers/Gareth Gatterell

Not necessarily. And that's not even for them to decide, they told Radio Times:

"As we were doing series one we were like, ‘God, we’d love to tell more stories.' The story this unpacks has a lot for Tchéky still to explore and when we talked about it we were like, ‘Oh, that could be good.’ And before we knew it we had a rough idea of what season two and three could be, which hardly ever happens. Normally we finish a series and never want to do it again and then we can’t think of anything. We do have the ideas [for Baptiste], but it’s not up to us."

So who is it up to? There's BBC One of course. Bustle reached out to the show's representative for comment to see if they had any update on a second season. Then there's the viewers. "If everyone hates it and no one watches it, it can end. If this is the last one, there’s no cliffhanger. It doesn’t depend on continuing,” they explained to Radio Times. That might seem a little pessimistic, but the rest of the team behind the show appear a little more hopeful.

As series executive producer Chris Aird told Variety ahead of the season's premiere: "We certainly hope [to do more seasons]. Our aspiration for the show is we set something up here that people will want to see more of." According to the Express, it's unlikely that all the characters will be able to return after Sunday's finale: “There are some that can return," they told the paper. “I’ll tell you what’s annoying, is when you watch it and you look back and you want everyone to return, but obviously you can’t.” Well stay tuned. There might well be more to come.